MacGuffin's Curse

An issue I have with a lot of games is that they try so hard to be funny or witty and they fall flat. They try to be high brow, and super clever, and it just ends up being awkward because you feel that they're laughing at their own jokes. It's rare to a game which is genuinely funny, and even more rare when it's a victimless humour where you can really feel good laughing.

It's also rare to have characterisation which is warm, appealing, and distinctly human. I'm not going to say that MacGuffin's Curse is To the Moon... but damn it, sometimes it comes close. Once you've finished with it, you can't help but look back and smile at all the times you had with it. And MacGuffin himself is just such an utterly loveable dork.

His back up crew are brilliant, too. The secrets revealed by and about his family, and... well, his daughter? You can't help but love her. There's this one scene where she fills the fridge with dog food and... okay, I'm not going to spoil that for you. But you'll have to trust me, it's really great. That was the most I'd laughed in a while.

So yes... the sense of humour is right! The puns and jokes are really natural, and the dialogue in general is sublime. Of course, to top it off, it helps that the game is really fun to play, too! The puzzles are great to ponder through, and they provide some real challenge, but logical challenge! Thankfully this isn't a point & click adventure game.

That's a good thing, in my opinion. As much as I love and have loved point & click adventure games, I've grown tired of the illogical nature of taking the sole off a shoe to use it with some kind of footprint scanner which opens a panel with a key that opens a door behind a locked gate. MacGuffin's Curse isn't that. Not at all. And that's good!

It just occurred to me that I'd never really shared my feelings about this game on the Steam forum, and after having revisited it recently, I wanted to. If you're wondering whether you should give this a spin, I urge you to spoil yourself a bit and do so. You're missing out on one heck of a memorable, heartwarming ride if you don't.

Thanks very much for the kind words about MacGuffin's Curse, it's always a thrill to hear from people who've enjoyed it. I've still got loads of background notes linking character relationships, city history, and things like that that never got in the game - you can't fit in everything, and sometimes it's best not to (which is also why we decided to have those cutscene comics rather than more wads of text).

Naturally, I've got ideas and plans for what will happen to Lucas next - you don't just make a whole world and then throw it away! Hopefully we'll get a chance to revisit him, as I'd love to send him on new adventures in different places and meet more strange and funny people.

The creation of the game was tough, stressful and fun in equal parts, and the great thing is that I learned a lot, from development to players' feedback. I'm looking forward to be able to put what I learned from MacGuffin to good use!

Again, thanks so much for your post. Seeing stuff like this is like magic. You literally made my day.